Dog Finds Manx Basking Shark Tag In Cornwall

November 24, 2008

Release from: Lottie Ray
Isle of Man Today

A Manx basking shark tag worth £3,000 has been rescued off the coast of Cornwall.

Cornish campsite owner Simon Zeal and his dog Milly found the satellite tag last month buried in seaweed on Rocky Beach near Padstow and contacted Jackie Hall of Manx Wildlife Trust's Manx Basking Shark Watch using a phone number on the tag.

Mr Zeal said: 'Milly and I always go for walks on the beach and one of her favourite things is to pick up plastic bottles — I think she likes the noise. That day she was just doing her usual thing — rummaging around in the seaweed — and rooted out one of these shark tags.'

It had fallen off a basking shark, named Liz, in August after she was tagged off the Island as part of vital MBSW research.

According to the satellite system, she had travelled to Wales before the tag fell off on the Cornish coast.

'I hadn't a clue at the time what it was,' Mr Zeal explained. 'At first it looked like a fishing float. Then I noticed it was made in America and looked like a tracking device. I wasn't sure if it was some kind of hoax — you find all sorts don't you.

'But when Jackie reacted with total excitement I knew it was something important. She was totally excited — jumping up and down on the other end of the phone. I was delighted.'

He added: 'We get a lot of basking sharks in the next bay here. What the Manx group is doing is fascinating and I totally support them.'

With a metre-wide mouth, a mature basking shark can grow up to 12 metres long.

A relative of the great white shark, basking sharks are now an endangered species with only around 8,000 left worldwide.

MBSW co-ordinator Jackie Hall said: 'Milly can only be described as a hero.'

She explained the retrieval of the expensive tag was 'excellent news' for two reasons.

'Firstly,' she said, 'getting the tag back will allow us to download all of the information about what Liz was up to in the 44 days the tag was attached to her.

'This means that we will be able to look at her fine-scale foraging behaviour. The data sent to us via satellite gives us a good picture of what she was up to but having the whole data set is a bonus of delightful proportions. Secondly, the tag is in good condition so hopefully we will be able to use it again next year.'

Mr Zeal refused the £200 reward for finding the tag — suggesting the money goes back into MBSW funds.

Jackie said: 'We are extremely grateful to him and Milly and will use this money towards refurbishing the tag. It costs $750 to do this and £200 will go a long way towards this.

'I can feel a basking shark called Milly or Simon coming on for 2009,' she added.

Liz is one of five basking sharks tagged off the Island this summer. Two other tags are currently bobbing up and down in the Irish Sea.

One is near the Scottish town of Portpatrick in Stranraer and the other is believed to be very close to the mouth of the Milford Haven Estuary in Wales.

Each tag is programmed to release itself after 120 days and so results for this year's work are expected to be ready shortly after Christmas.

Once the tags are released, they are not often found but do have a telephone number on them just in case they are picked up — a £200 reward is offered for each of them.

Last year a female basking shark called Tracy made it all the way to Nova Scotia, Canada — a groundbreaking discovery.

Before that it was widely-believed the basking sharks living on this side of the Atlantic were a completely different group to those living off the east coast of North and South America.

If you would like to volunteer for Manx Basking Shark Watch please call Jackie or Graham Hall on 833215 or send an email to jackie@manxbasking sharkwatch.com

For more information please visit www.manxbaskingsharkwatch.com